KICK ASS MONKS

Have you been following the news from Burma/Myanmar this week? Long story short: 35,000 Buddhist monks, nuns and followers have been marching in protest against the oppressive Burmese military government. On Saturday, they marched up to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the pro-democracy movement in Burma, who's been under house arrest for about 18 years. After she waved to the procession, she was moved to the notorious Insein prison.

Today, armed soldiers and police mobilized. The last time this happened, in 1988, they fired into peaceful crowds, killing 3000 unarmed civilians.

Here's the cool part: China -- freaking China -- is "quietly" urging the Burmese government to excercise restraint in dealing with protesters. World leaders everywhere are urging Burma to release Kyi. Even George W. "World's biggest prick" Bush is talking about it.

Here's the lesson I hope GW is learning: The world community likes it when you deal with assholes by not being an asshole. If freedom fighters in Burma had blown stuff up, would it had made the news? Probably not. Ehh, more stuff blowing up. Big whoop.

But when thousands of monks and nuns risk their lives by peacefully protesting, people actually notice. And slowly things change.

Here's a picture of monks kicking ass.

Update: There've been 200 arrests and 4 people murdered by police...